1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an optical operating input detection apparatus, an automatic vending machine, and an optical operating input detection method.
2. Related Art
A late automatic vending machine model includes a display that is incorporated in a front door thereof and that displays commodity samples as an image and, for example, a touch panel that allows a specific commodity to be selected (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-232537). The use of the display and the touch panel can promote expansion of the automatic vending machines.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-289084 discloses, as exemplary types of touch panels, a capacitive coupling type, an optical type, and an ultrasonic type. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-52696 discloses a technique that uses a detection reference set in advance for each predetermined position within a detection surface, to thereby detect the position of a pointing device that contacts or is brought close to the detection surface.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-54065 discloses an arrangement relating to position detection by light beam interruption. The arrangement includes an optical sensor on one edge of a detection area and a thin retroreflector frame on the other edge of the detection area. The optical sensor emits and receives light. To reduce effect of ambient light, the arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-54065 flashes off and on the light source to thereby take a difference in signals between when the light source is on and when the light source is off.
For the purpose of finding position coordinates of a pointing device that emits radiated light directly or indirectly on a coordinate surface, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-3170 discloses an arrangement that includes a detection unit, an optical unit, and a shielding unit. More specifically, the detection unit is disposed around the coordinate surface. The detection unit receives the radiated light and converts the radiated light to a corresponding electric signal. The optical unit limits a field of view of the detection unit to a predetermined height or lower from the coordinate surface to thereby collimate a range of the radiated light to be received with respect to the coordinate surface. The shielding unit may, for example, be a shielding frame that is disposed so as to surround the coordinate surface and that removes unwanted light other than the radiated light from the field of view.